High Performance School in Mathematics

(Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao)

Abstract
This study assessed the Mathematics proficiency, attitude and performance of Grade 9
students at private high schools in Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines. It aimed to
describe the profile of the respondents in terms of gender, parents' educational attainment
and family income; ascertain the level of mathematical proficiency; find the attitude
towards Mathematics; assess the level of performance in Mathematics; correlate
mathematics performance with profile, mathematics proficiency, attitude towards
Mathematics; identify the variables, singly or in combination best predict mathematics
performance of Grade 9 students. This is a descriptive-correlational survey with grade 9
students as respondents. An Attitude towards Mathematics Test, Mathematics
Proficiency Test and Summative Test were used to gather data. There were more females
than males students from six private high schools. The educational attainment of mothers
and fathers were clustered in the college level to graduate studies. Monthly family income
was above the lowest bracket. The mathematics proficiency and performance level of
Grade 9 students was described as beginning. A moderate positive correlation existed
between mathematics performance and parent's (mother and father) educational
attainment. No significant relationship was found with mathematics performance, gender,
family income, attitude, and mathematics proficiency. Mother's educational attainment
best predicts mathematics performance.

Introduction
There is considerable nation-wide interest in improving students’ understanding of
mathematics, combined with an emerging consensus about the essential elements of
mathematics instruction; in addition, research has provided valuable insights into how
children learn. Together these factors are opening the way to substantial and enduring
progress in school mathematics.
Greater understanding of mathematics will be essential for today’s schoolchildren.
Success in tomorrow’s job market will require more than computational competence. It
will require the ability to apply mathematical knowledge to solve problems. If today’s
students are to compete successfully in the world of tomorrow, they must be able to learn
new concepts and skills. They need to view mathematics as a tool they can use every
day. They need to have the mathematical sophistication that will enable them to take full
advantage of the information and communication technologies that permeate our homes
and workplaces. Students with a poor understanding of mathematics will have fewer
opportunities to pursue higher levels of education and to compete for good jobs.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study may give insights to students, parents, teachers, school
administrators, and other researchers.
Students; The result of the study can help the students become aware of their math
performance so that they can take concrete steps to improve their mathematics skills.
Knowledge of their own brain dominance will lead them to discover and be aware of their
own interest, strength, weakness and utilize this discovery to become more effective
individuals.
Parents; The parents’ awareness of their children’s school performance and cognitive
styles will enable them, as parents, to assist their children improve their mathematical
performance by using their dominant brain and developing the less dominant to further
enhance performance.
Teachers; Results of this study can help the teachers identify the students’ interest and
brain hemisphericity so that they can choose better teaching approaches that will best
enhance students’ learning especially in mathematics.
Administrators; the findings of the study may guide administrators in creating programs
that match with the students’ abilities. The administration can provide ongoing formation
for teachers especially on left-brain, right brain or bilateral individuals in order for them to
achieve excellently.
Other researchers; the results of this study may motivate other researchers to conduct
studies on brain hemisphericty with other variables.

High Performance School in Mathematics (Luzon)

A Philippine delegation composed of students from kindergarten to senior high school

raked in 184 medals and two trophies at the World Mathematics Invitational (WMI) held
in Fukuoka, Japan from July 15 to 19. The Philippine delegation brought home 10
diamond, 38 gold, 44 silver, and 57 bronze medals; and 32 merit prizes after two rounds
of comprehensive written exams. The WMI is the first Taiwan-founded international
competition which aims to promote and advance mathematics education through
challenging competition. Participants from 21 countries joined the event, including
Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Iran,
and host country Japan. “We feel much fulfilled to have accomplished such a glorious
feat as all 181 of our mathletes finished with individual medals after months of rigorous
and rigid training and review,” said Rechilda P. Villame, Team Leader and President of
the Asian MathSci League, Incorporated (AMSLI). AMSLI is responsible for the country’s
successful stints in the recent similar Olympiads in the United States, Bulgaria, and
Singapore. Among the highlights of the team’s victory are special individual awards given
to students who showed exemplary performance, and awards for the mini-math creative
contest. Lawrence Gabriel Dy, a Grade 12 student of CCF Life Academy in CCF Worship
and Training Center, 1604, Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Ave, Pasig, Kalakhang Maynila
received, The Star of the World trophy for being one of the top scorers from the
Philippines. Wesley Gavin Palomar, a Grade 9 student from Philippine Science High
School Main Campus in Agham Rd, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, received the
prestigious Legend Award trophy, given to a student who has won a diamond or gold
medal for 3 consecutive years. The mini-math creative contest is an added event to the
Olympiad where students submit creative video projects discussing the application of
math in daily life. Angela Clare Tan, (Grade 3, Tarlac Living Faith Academy) won the lone
gold medal and a $300-cash prize, while Rhensis Benedict Lofamia (Grade 5, Jean-
Baptiste of Reims College that are located in Olympus Road North Olympus Subdivision,
Novaliches, Quezon City, Metro Manila ) and Chelsea Lianne Gomez (Grade 8, De La
Salle Santiago Zobel School in University Ave, Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila
) each won bronze medals and a $100-cash prize.

High Performance School in Mathematics (Visayas)

The participants of the study were the first year high school students of Colegio de San
Jose (CSJ) during the school year 2010-2011. CSJ, located at E. Lopez Street, Jaro, Iloilo
City, Philippines is a private-sectarian school owned and managed by the Little Company
of the Daughters of Charity – Philippine Province, a member of the Iloilo Integrated
Administration of St. Louise de Marillac Educational System of the Daughters of Charity.
This involved 168 students randomly selected from a total population of 288. The Slovin’s
formula of 5% margin of error was employed. The selection in choosing the participants
used stratified random sampling to maintain that all the seven sections were
proportionately represented. The list of students was taken from the registrar’s office and
the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) or the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) result was
obtained from the school’s guidance services center. To gather data on brain
hemisphericity, a Hemisphere Dominance Questionnaire adopted from Torrance (1980)
was administered to the participants. Mathematics Achievement was based from the
result of the Teacher-Made Achievement Test. In order to establish the validity and
reliability of the instruments, these were validated by three experts in psychology and
mathematics and pilot tested among the first year high school students of Colegio del
Sagrado Corazon de Jesus.
High Performance School in Mathematics (Mindanao)

The mathematics performance of the Grade 7 students of Central Mindanao University

Laboratory High School. Specifically, it aimed to answer the questions on the
mathematics performance of the students when exposed to Flipped Classroom and to
Non-Flipped Classroom before and after the experimentation and few days after the
experimentation; on the mathematics anxiety of the students when exposed to Flipped
Classroom and to Non-Flipped Classroom before and after the experimentation; on the
difference in mathematics performance of the students when exposed to Flipped
Classroom and to Non-Flipped Classroom after and few days after the experimentation
as either significant or not; and lastly, on the difference in the mathematics anxiety of the
students when exposed to Flipped Learning and to Non-Flipped Classroom as either
significant or not. Results revealed that the mathematics performance of both groups
recorded great improvements after the implementation. The mathematics performance of
the students exposed to Flipped Classroom became significantly comparable with the
mathematics performance of the students exposed to Non-Flipped Classroom in the
retention test. On mathematics anxiety, the students are on moderate level in both groups
before and after the implementation. Moreover, the mathematics anxiety of the students
exposed to Flipped Classroom is lower after the implementation and it is even significantly
lesser than the anxiety of the students exposed to Non-Flipped Classroom.

High Performing Schools in International (6 Continents)

Africa.

Levels of research
One measure of mathematical strength is the number of PhD holders. For the whole of
sub-Saharan Africa, according to 2009 estimates, this number is smaller than 2,000, and
may be closer to 1,000. Another measure of research output is mathematical publications;
while North Africa’s share is highest, at about 0.87% of world output, the shares for the
rest of Africa are extremely low: for Southern Africa 0.39%; for West Africa 0.08%; for
Central Africa, 0.03%; and for East Africa, 0.01% of world output. Differences in research
publications are also wide, with a sampling from MathSciNet ranging from 370 in Egypt
and 334 in South Africa to 3 in Benin and 0 in Ghana.

Primary and secondary school mathematics

Both primary and secondary level mathematics education are weak in most African
countries, reducing the potential population of talented students who choose mathematics
majors at the university level. This condition has been attributed at least in part to
inadequate teacher recruitment and laws requiring universal elementary education, which
has increased crowding 3 in the primary schools and brought a drop in quality. Large
class size prevents teachers from interacting with students, attending to those who need
special attention, or practicing learner centered techniques. One result is that few
students reach the secondary level. In some sub-Saharan countries, less than 10% of the
secondary age population is enrolled in school; in the rest for which figures are available,
only South Africa and Swaziland have gross enrolment ratios greater than 50%.

Education system in mathematics in Africa

International, regional and national assessment surveys reveal low levels of performance
across all levels of the education system. Few significant factors: under-resourced
schools, learners who live in conditions of deepening poverty, critical shortage of qualified
mathematics teachers in schools.
The country’s performance in maths lags way behind that of many countries, including a
number of African and other developing countries despite high levels of government
funding, the functioning of the education system is characterised by persistent structural
inequalities that reflect the apartheid legacy.
Asia

85 more of the world’s top schools in mathematics can be found in Asia, 28 of which can
be found in China. China has seven entrants in the top 100, including Peking University
(join 20th), Tsinghua University (25th) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (51p from 51-
100 to 42nd).
Japan meanwhile claims 12 entries in the math ranking, including 2 in the top 50: The
University of Tokyo (ranked joint 20th w/ Peking University) and Kyoto University (joint
36th).
South Korea is home to 11 more of the world’s best institutions of mathematics, with Seoul
National University up from 51-100 now rank within global top 50 for this subject, at join
47th.
India’s 10 entrants include the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) And Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD), which both climbed from 151-200 to now rank in the
101-150 range.
Of Hong Kong’s six top math schools, all but one are in the global top 100, with the
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) overtaking the University of Hong Kong as the
locations number one for this subject, ranked 28th this year.
Also with six schools in Taiwan, led by National Taiwan University (NTU) at 51-100, while
Universiti Malaya (UM) countries to be the highest ranked of Malaysia’s five top
universities for mathematics.
Pakistan is new to math ranking this year with three entrants, while Singapore’s two
continue to rank within the top 100 – National University of Singapore (NUS) holds steady
at 13th, while Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) fell slightly to now rank
within the 51-100 range. And finally, Indonesia and Thailand each offer of one more top
school, with Thailand this year.

Australia
Australia boast a total of 17 top math schools in this year’s ranking, including six in the
top 100 and one new entry. In the top 50 are the Australian National University (ANU)
(31st), the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) (up six places to rank 38th)
and the University of Melbourne (41st).
Meanwhile neighboring New Zealand is home to five more of the world’s best institutions
for mathematics, led by the University of Auckland, when is down slightly to rank 51-100
this year.

Europe
Heading across the Atlantic, you’ll find a further 173 top universities for mathematics
within Europe, including 33 in the UK. Three UK universities feature among the world’s to
50 for this subject: Imperial College London, which narrowly misses out on spot in the top
10 at 11th place; the University of Warwick 9which climbed 13 places to rank joint 20 th)
and the University of Edinburgh (ranked joint 47th for mathematics in 2019).
26 more top universities for mathematics can be found in Germany, including two new
entries and two in the global top 50: Technical University of Munich (up five places to rank
joint 45th) and Rheinische Fredrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn (50th).
France also performs well, hosting 20 top math schools, including three in the top 50 –
new entrant Universite PSL (Paris and Sciences & Lettres) takes the lead at joint 20 th,
and is followed by Ecole Polytechnique 29th) and another new entrant, Sorbonne
University (joint 32nd).
Italy is next with 17 entrants – although none of these make the top 50, Politecnico de
Milano, Sapienza-Universita di Roma and the University of Pisa all rank in 51-100.
A further 15 top universities for mathematics are found in the Nordiac locations, with six
in Sweden, four in Denmark, three in Norway and two in Finland. Of these, the Institute
of Technology, up from 51-400 to 44th this year.
Six more top universities for mathematics are found in Switzerland – as well as ETH
Zurich in the top 10, another high placed Swiss entrant is EPFL- Ecole Polytechnique
Federale de Lausanne, up five places to rank 19th this year.
Elsewhere, Austria, Belgium and Poland have find top math schools each, with Belgium’s
KU Leuven the highest ranked at 51-100, while Austria’s entrants include the University
of Vienna at 101-150.
And finally, Poland, Portugal and Ireland have three representatives in the math ranking
each, while the Czech Republic has two and Greece, Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary are
all home to one entrant each. Of the aforementioned locations, Portugal’s University of
Lisbon is the highest ranking institutions for mathematics.

North America
An impressive 77 of the world’s top universe for mathematics are found in the US,20 of
which boast positions in the global top 50. Outside the seven in the top 10, other
prestigious US universe for mathematics include Columbia University (ranked 12th),
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (14th), the University of Michigan (up five
places to rank 16th) and the university of Chicago (17th).
Meanwhile, Canada is home to 18 more top math schools, led by the University of
Toronto, which climbed four places to rank 15th. Also in the top 50 are the University of
British Columbia and the University of Waterloo.
U.S. students in the Class of 2011, with a 32 percent proficiency rate in mathematics,
came in 32nd among the nations that participated in PISA. Although performance levels
among the countries ranked 23rd to 31st are not significantly different from that of the
United States, 22 countries do significantly outperform the United States in the share of
students reaching the proficient level in math. In six countries plus Shanghai and Hong
Kong, a majority of students performed at the proficient level, while in the United States
less than one-third did.
In Harvard University; Sitan Chen is a star mathematician and Carnegie Hall concert pianist
iin Class of 2016Before entering Harvard, Chen won third place in the 2011 Siemens
Competition in Math, Science & Technology for his research that could advance how
computers multi-task data. His project is called On the Rank Number of Grid Graphs, and
could result in new advances in studying mathematical graphs.He's also a talented pianist
and violinist who performed at Carnegie Hall six times.Chen is a freshman studying math
and economics. He plans to become a university professor, is a member of the Harvard
Glee Club, and serves as an analyst in the Harvard College Consulting Group where he
provides consulting services for businesses, non-profit organizations, and student groups
in and out of Harvard.

South America
Heading to Latin America, you’ll find 15 more of the world’s best institutions in
mathematics, including 7 in Brazil. Of Brazil’s entrants, its highest ranked continuous to
be Universidad de Sao Paulo (USP) at 51-100.Chile is home to three to top math schools,
with Universidad de Chile climbing from 101-150 to 51-100. Columbia and Mexico have
two entrants each, while Argentina has one, with Mexico’s Universidad National
Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) coming 101-150.